Close Encounters
by Afterglow04
Summary: How do you think Monica and Phoebe first met? Here's my view...


_A/N: Those of you thinking this is in any way related to Star Wars or Star Trek or anything like that...are wrong. Don't ask me why I chose this title, but I love this song and I've been listening to it a lot...and I didn't have a title for this story, heh. This is my view on how Monica and Phoebe first met._

**Close Encounters**

"I'm telling you, it's not usually this calm, something is up."

"Nothing's up, it's a Wednesday Monica. People actually go to work. Not like us, who just keep hanging out here all the time, even when we have better things to do."

Monica stuck out her tongue at her best friend and took the final shot on the pool table. "Ha! Score! I just whooped your ass, yet again my friend. And speaking of having better things to do, I should get going. My shift starts in an hour and I'm going to walk to the restaurant."

Chandler gave an exasperated sigh because she won the game again. "But if you take a cab, then you have another half hour. And that's enough time for me to get my revenge. Come on...one more game?" He was jumping up and down excitedly and she couldn't help but laugh at his silliness.

She patted his back and smiled, "I will kick your butt tonight, but right now, I have to go." She kissed him lightly on the cheek and darted out the door to run to her apartment. She entered and frowned when she saw Ross sitting there, watching tv by himself. He greeted her before turning his attention back to the documentary he was watching.

"Chandler's at the bar if you're looking for him."

"Nah, I want to watch this." He smiled at her while she was picking up various things for work. "Oh hey, I saw your announcement in the paper this morning. Did you see that they put –"

"The wrong apartment number? Yea I know." She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Some people can't do anything right. But at least they didn't mess up the address, so I'm going to hang a note downstairs with the correct number on it. Or else Mr Heckles will want to kill us even more if he keeps getting disturbed."

"Yea, he came up here 5 minutes ago to whine that the tv was too loud. If I ever end up that bitter, please kill me."

"Believe me, I will." She laughed and said goodbye before she was really late. It was such a beautiful day today and she really didn't want to waste it by going to work in a cab again. Though it was only just after noon, there were a lot of people in the park and she looked around at all the children playing and the mothers watching them from the side. A smile slowly crept on her face and she couldn't help but think forward about how it would be when she had children of her own. She knew that it was way too early to be thinking about that, but...she was destined to have a baby one day, she loved them so much.

Her attention shifted to a young blonde woman sitting on one of the benches, playing guitar and singing softly. She slowed down a bit to get a closer look, she was sure she had seen her before. When Monica noticed the big blue backpack next to the woman, recognition washed over her face. This was the same woman she had already met twice before in the past 2 weeks. It seemed as if she was all over New York all of a sudden, Monica had even thought at one time that she was following her or something.

She always carried that big backpack and her guitar case around, which is why she was noticed in the first place. Even though her case wasn't really open to the public -it was next to her on the bench - Monica decided to throw in a few bucks anyway. When she approached her, the woman raised her head and smiled.

"Thank you."

Monica smiled and continued walking, looking back a few times. There was something intriguing about her, but she couldn't pinpoint what it was. She wondered how it was that she kept running into this girl, but seeing as though she had just lost another 5 minutes, she didn't spend any more time pondering about it.

Work was busy, as usual. And Monica still kept dreaming about owning her own restaurant some day. If that didn't happen...God would at least let her be a head chef wouldn't he? Anything to get out of this place really, this wasn't what she wanted. It felt like she had no direction whatsoever in her entire life. No job (at least not one she liked), no boyfriend and now to top things off, she needed to find a roommate too. And she needed one fast. Her grandmother might've helped with the apartment, but it would be easier to afford if someone else pitched in.

On her way back from work 6 hours later, she was still considering that same topic. Her ad had only been in the paper one day, but she wondered if anyone had already shown some interest. All freaks and weird people aside, it would be nice to have someone to come home to. And possibly, she'd get along great with the person and they could all be friends.

Given the beautiful night they were having, Monica decided to walk back home. There were stars spread across the sky and a nice breeze which ruffled through the trees. Never mind the fact it was getting colder each day as winter was nearing. She was lost in thought and didn't hear the quick footsteps walking up behind her, until she felt her purse being snatched away from her. Monica quickly snapped out of it and tried to stop the person.

"Hey!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

The mysterious man turned around and stared at her with a dangerous look in his eyes, it scared her beyond belief. She took a step back and put her hands up in defence while he ran away. She looked from left to right to see if anyone was around to help her, but the street was nearly abandoned and she sighed in defeat. For a minute, she thought she saw a blonde head bob around the corner, but it had happened so fast that she doubted her own judgement.

She quickened her pace, wanting to be somewhere safe as soon as possible. She came home with a red flush on her cheeks from practically running the rest of the way and plopped down on the couch. She seemed to be in a daze, she couldn't quite comprehend what had just happened. Curling up on the sofa, it hit her just how many valuable things she kept in her handbag and the emotions started to catch up to her. All of her credit cards, at least $40 cash, all of the pictures she kept in her purse...her keys! The guy could find out where she lived and just use the key to get in! She really needed to report this to the police as soon as possible. She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her head on top. She wished that either Chandler or Kip were home so that she would have someone to talk to. Maybe she could even sleep over there tonight, anything was better than staying alone in her dark apartment. She needed a roommate more than ever.

As if on cue, the buzzer went and Monica slowly lifted herself off the couch and moved towards the door. With a touch of suspicion in her voice, she answered.

"Hello?"

A light voice came to her reply. "Hi, is this Monica Geller?"

"Yes it is, can I help you?"

"Umm, I'm sorry to bother you, I know it's 9pm already and...well quite late, but I saw an ad in the paper that you were looking for a roommate?"

Monica frowned. Nearly 10pm on a Wednesday and this woman wanted a tour of the apartment _now? _Deciding to give her a chance, she pressed the button and said:

"Ok, come on up."

She wrapped her arms around herself and decided to turn up the heat a bit. She could hear bouncing on the stairs and eagerly awaited the person coming up. Tapping her fingers on the doorframe, she shifted her eyes to the woman entering her sight and approaching her with a smile. Monica's mouth probably fell to the floor when she saw who it was.

"Hi, I'm Phoebe." The blonde woman said while extending her hand. Sure enough, it was the woman Monica had seen earlier that day and many times in the weeks before. When she looked to the floor, she couldn't help but smile at the guitar case and backpack that were now resting by her feet.

Monica stopped the daydreaming and shook Phoebe's hand. "Monica." she simply stated.

"Yea, I know who you are." She reached down and lifted something off the ground that Monica hadn't noticed.

"Oh my God, is that –"

"Your purse, yes." Monica quickly took it out of her hands and started rummaging through it. Not one thing was missing, everything was still there. She looked up with a stunned expression on her face, and she didn't really know what to say or do next.

"I think I really need to explain. I'm sorry for showing up this late, but I figured you might want this back so..." Phoebe looked around a bit, not knowing where to begin.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Please come in."

"Thanks, I really don't want to be a burden," she looked around as she stepped inside and smiled again. "You have a great apartment, I didn't think it would be this big."

Monica found herself instantly liking the way this woman talked and acted. It was as if she sang a song and the world was just her happy audience. Or maybe she felt that way because she'd just gotten all of her personal belongings back.

"Can I get you anything to drink?"

"Oh no, I'm fine thanks. I really should tell you what happened." Phoebe took a seat opposite Monica and folded her hands in her lap. "I was walking back from the park tonight, when I heard you...yell. I came running towards where I thought you were, but I was too late." She seemed nervous, as if she was actually the one who robbed her before.

"Umm, after I saw you walk away...I went to the ma-man that, you know, stole from you and ummm, got this back! So I thought I would just drop by and return it to you."

Monica waited until she would go on, but apparently she didn't feel the need to explain any more.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite get the part where you went to the man who robbed me and...what? You just asked if he would give it back?"

"Well, no. No, not exactly. You see, I know that man. I know a lot of people on the streets so it didn't take me very long to hear who had done it. And after that, I just told him that I "knew you" so he gave it back to me."

"Ok...thanks – I guess." She blinked her eyes a couple of times, still not fully comprehending everything.

"No problem. I remembered who you were, which is why I did it in the first place. I seem to be running into you everywhere lately, and since you'd given me money in the park earlier...just consider it a favour back. Besides, when I entered your building, I saw that you were looking for a roommate, so I used that as an excuse."

Monica's head shot up when she heard the last part. "Oh, you mean that you're not really interested in living here?"

"Well of course I am. But I just figured that you wouldn't really choose a girl like me. After all, I do actually know the man that threatened you tonight, that's not a very good opening line." she added sarcastically.

"Ha, I agree. But you did save my day. And I think that we could really hit it off, so maybe you ought to think about it. Besides, I haven't really seen or interviewed any other people yet, and who knows what might show up at my door. I'd rather take my chances with someone I seem to get along with immediately..." She let her voice trail, hoping Phoebe would take the hint.

"Really? But you don't really know me. I mean, what if after 3 days you find out that I'm impossible to live with?"

Monica laughed "It could easily be the other way around as well. What do you say we have a trial week? Seven days, no strings attached...and I mean that in a non-sexual way. We could see if things work out, if we get along. And if not...then we could still be friends. "

"I think I like that." Phoebe smiled and observed everything around her again.

"Oh I'll give you a tour in a minute. What is it that you do? I mean, I know you sing, so are - are you a musician?"

"I'm a musician yes...but I also work at a massage parlour. Just recently though, I used to –"Phoebe decided it would probably be best not to drop the bomb about her life right away, "Well, I didn't really have a job before that."

She fell silent for a moment before adding "so when does the trial period start?"

"Well, it could start tonight if you'd like. You can move in whenever you want to, or if you need to go pick up the rest of your stuff, you can go get it tomorrow."

"That's ok, I don't really have any other belongings than this –"she pointed to her backpack and guitar, "they're my most precious possessions."

"That's all you own? Don't you have a...a bed or a closet or...well, more clothes and things?"

"Not really. I haven't really had an easy life, so I'm not very materialistic. But you'll get to know me."

Monica smiled, feeling glad that this woman had showed up at her door. She was about her age, it seemed and they really hit it off. She stood up and motioned for Phoebe to follow her as she gave her a tour of the apartment. They ended up in the guest room – she'd have to start calling it Phoebe's room now – and she decided to let her get acquainted.

"I'm going to get started on dinner while you settle in a bit."

"Wow, you cook? I thought most people in New York City ordered take-out and things like that."

Monica chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Well they do, but I'm a chef...so I owe it to myself. Plus, I love to cook so I hope you're hungry."

"I am...oooh but I'm a vegetarian though. But you don't have to make anything special, I'll get by. Whatever you have that wasn't brutally murdered is fine."

"Ok...I'll see what I can do. Besides, you never know...after you've tried my cooking, you might not be a vegetarian anymore. I've turned many people around." she gave a little laugh.

And with that she left the room and walked over to the kitchen. She couldn't help but smile at how good her day had turned out after all. She felt lucky to have found this girl, who seemed fun and normal – at least at first sight. Now all she had to do was find the nerve to quit her job and take a better one, and her life might actually turn out the way she wanted it to. She would start working on the boyfriend later...

_A/N: That's it! I wrote this for the fanfic contest at FB's Perfection! The Monica Geller-Bing fanclub. So please leave me a review to tell me what you think. _


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